M14 Forum banner

Ever see an M1 Garand blow up?

19K views 48 replies 30 participants last post by  tank1949 
#1 ·
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn0KBzK2Kho&feature=youtu.be[/ame]
 
#2 ·
Whoa. Anyone know what happened there? Round too hot? ( could that even do that?) I hope that wasnt an SAI (non forged) receiver, the comments might never end...

:p
 
  • Like
Reactions: echokilo60
#6 ·
Looked like a squib to me. you can see where she lurched forward, expecting a shot to be fired. after that she corrected malfuction, sending a live round on top of a squib round. wow, im hoping she was not hurt by that. looked like she will be fine though. Gotta pull up your bootstraps, learn from your mistakes and drive on!!

Im an eye-pro man now-a-days.
 
#11 ·
Really looks more like a squib to me.

looks like she cleared an empty case, probably because it didn't have the power to eject it on just the primer.

Seen squibs too many times. We always stop the shooter though. Have yet to see a gun explode.

Well.... I have seen a gun explode years ago. Unfortunately.

Was at a shoot and a man had been hunting with a 20gauge the day before. He had one left in his ammo pouch and loaded it in the chamber of his BT99. Next time he looked down at the chamber it was empty. Though he forgot to load it, and stuck a 12 gauge on top. He didn't get the bang he was looking for.

His hand and forearm was all torn up. Had to have a couple surgeries following.
 
#13 ·
Since I was a kid the first thing my dad told us to do when we got our shotguns out of the case to go hunting was to bring the slide to the rear and look down the muzzle to make sure there was nothing in there except air.

Will and M1 Garand or M1A (in good condition) allow the firing pin to contact the primer before the bolt is fully locked up? I thought that was the purpose of the safety bridge - to prevent the firing pin from moving forward until the bolt was in position.
 
#15 ·
From the lady who had the rifle blow up in her hands.

I am the person this happened to. The 7th round jammed, which is nothing unusual for this gun. It happens all the time. That is why I didn't really hesitate to shoot the final round. We were using newer ammo, so we don't think that's the problem. My brother has been looking at his M1, and we noticed it will still fire with the chamber not fully closed. The chamber can be open up to 1/2" and the weapon will still fire. We think that's what happened.

I was very lucky with the outcome. I have lots of splinters and bruising, but nothing broken. My left hand took the brunt of the blow to my wrist and palm of my hand. Still pretty painful, but I will be fine. Thanks for the concern.
 
#17 ·
I guess that using the wrong powder and squibs have been ruled out, it sounds like a true slam-fire to me. Maybe the firing pin was sticking in the bolt due to not having cleaned it in a long time.
 
#21 ·
I've looked at that video afgain and again and I could be wrong but I don't think it fired out of battery.
Watch the video, the brass is ejecting too the 1 to 2 o'clock positon
until the shot at the 11 second mark. That brass did not eject or it ejected to her 5 o'clock position. The gun does not fire, she retracts the bolt, either clears the fired brass or clears a lose round from a short stoke, chambers a round (and at this point the bolt looks closed) and boom. It really looks like a squib to me. but heck what do I know.
 
#24 ·
The rifle didn't fire out of battery. Watch close and you will see her flindh as she fires the 7th round only it did not go bang, there is no smoke out the end of the barrel and no recoil. She pulls the oprod back, removes the case and drops it to her left. She then pulls the oprod back and chambers the 8th round and does ride it forward but it appears to be all the way forward as with the previous shots. The rifle blows on the 8th round firing. This obviously is from a cartridge with no powder in it with the primer diving the bullet out of the 7th round's case and into the barrel. She chambered the 8th round with the 7th round's stuck bullet in the bore.

Lesson learned; any time a firearm doesn't go "bang" as intended, stop and check the bore for the bullet.

Larry Gibson
 
#25 ·
Yep it looks like she rode the op rod forward but it could have very well been a squib load.

As a LEO firearms instructor, especially when instructing rookies on the range I would always tell them...

If the report from your weapon differs from shot to shot or if the recoil is different...

Stop shooting, do not pull that trigger again, raise your non shooting hand and keep your weapon pointed safely down range. Then I would go over and check to make sure their barrel wasn't obstructed by the bullet from a squib round and then they could continue their course of fire.

7th
 
#27 ·
This is what frustrates me, instead of speculating why not ask the person directly involved. I just got an answer from the lady involved and it looks like this is a classic open bolt problem.

She just posted about an hour ago
The 7th round was a live round. The M1 jammed like it often does. Instead of forcing that round into the chamber, I took it out and slammed the bolt forward. We are thinking the chamber did not close all the way. My brother's M1 will still fire that way.
If you watch the video she does ride the bolt about half the way forward and then she lets it go home. She also mentioned previously that their rifles are known to fire even when the bolt is open by a half inch or so.

I also invited her to join our forum and told her that we have some pretty sharp experts that would be able to help provide guidance in regards to fixing her rifles.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top